The Urgent Need to Protect BC’s Ancient
INLAND TEMPERATE RAINFOREST
A Valhalla Wilderness Society Conservation Report
Public Information Bulletin No. 47
November, 2008
The ancient Cedar-Hemlock forests of British Columbia’s Inland Rainforest Region are gravely threatened. They commonly have trees up to 500 years old.
The wettest of these forests are true rainforest, with
trees up to five metres thick and up to 1,800 years old.
This is the only Inland Temperate Rainforest in the
world. Elsewhere, Temperate Rainforest occurs only
in coastal areas.
Some scientists say that Inland Rainforest is
richer in biodiversity than Coastal Temperate Rainforest. For 40 years these forests have received little
protection in parks while logging companies clearcut
the most accessible sites and the largest trees. The
hallmark species of the region, the mountain caribou
and innumerable rare rainforest lichens, are under
threat of being wiped out.
Shockingly, these forests are still being cut
down to make posts and rails for fences, shakes for
roofing, and patio decks. The BC government wants
to plant young trees in cities like Vancouver to offset global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide
from the air. This is good, but then why are we returning tons of carbon to the air by logging 250- to
1,800- year-old trees?
Photo: Proposed Kane Creek Addition to the Goat Range Provincial Park
Many scientists and environmentalists agree that all the oldgrowth forest (140 years or older) in BC’s Inland Rainforest Region should be fully protected. (See the petitions,
accords and letters at www.vws.org.) This region is the
home of the endangered mountain caribou and the rare Inland Temperate Rainforest. But these forests, the result of
high precipitation, are scattered over 14.3 million hectares
of mountains. A great deal has been logged, and much has
been reduced to small fragments. So for conservationists,
without maps to show the clearcuts, the remaining oldgrowth and other aspects of the forest, it was impossible to
locate all of the remaining intact ancient rainforests fast
enough to keep them from being cut down.
Such maps did not exist. However, in 1998 the Valhalla
Wilderness Society’s former chairperson, Colleen McCrory
(who passed away last year), got together with several environmental activists and native people and started the Inland
Rainforest Project. Within five years Baden Cross of Applied
Conservation GIS had mapped the forest cover of 14.3 million
hectares, and Dr. Lance Craighead of the renowned Craighead
Environmental Research Institute from Montana had used that
and other data to create a state-of-the art Conservation Area Design. The project area is called the Inland Rainforest Region.
Several First Nations are now using the maps in their treaty negotiations and management of their territories. Meanwhile sev-
Garth Lenz
For the last ten years a small network of scientists, environmental organizations and aboriginal people has been working together to document the
location of the surviving old-growth Interior CedarHemlock (ICH) forests. Ecosystem mapping sponsored by the Valhalla Wilderness Society shows that
there are still outstanding areas of these magnificent
forests left to save.
eral expert lichenologists — Toby Spribille based in Germany, Curtis Björk
and Trevor Goward in BC — were
doing painstaking field and laboratory
work that would radically revise scientific opinion about biodiversity in
BC’s Inland Temperate Rainforests.
All these technical experts donated the
vast majority of their mapping, analyses, field and laboratory work.
The Inland Temperate Rainforest is one of very
few major biomes in Canada that occurs exclusively
in Canada. It is entirely up to Canadians to ensure its
long-term preservation. No one else can do it for us.
The ongoing destruction of these forests is a loss, not
merely to Canadians, but to the world. Please turn the
pages to see the photographs, and join us in the effort
to rescue these ancient legacies from destruction.
Ro
bs
Inland Rainforest Region
(also known as Interior Wetbelt)
on
Va
lle
y
Cariboo
Mtns.
Dr. Craighead’s analysis showed that
85% of the region must be managed to
maintain biodiversity and 55% must be fully
protected to maintain such species as grizzly
bears, mountain caribou and salmon. After consulting with First Nations and many environmental groups
in the region, the result was the map on the right, showing the areas with the highest conservation values for biodiversity in light green. Recently the Valhalla Wilderness
Society has taken the project another step forward by identifying explicit boundaries for 19 proposed new or expanded
parks or similar designations. They are shown on the larger
map on the inside page. This publication highlights the three proposals that have significant areas of intact old-growth: the Central Selkirk Mountains, Cariboo Mountains, and Robson Valley.
Valhalla Wilderness Society
P.O. Box 329, New Denver, British Columbia, V0G 1S0
Phone: 250-358-2333; Fax: 358-7950; [email protected]; www.vws.org
Existing Parks
High Biodiversity
Areas
Central
Selkirk
Mtns,
Top Priorities for Increasing Core Protection in BC's Interior Wetbelt
P r i o r i t y A r e a s f o r Pr es er v a t i o n i n t h e
I nl a nd R a i n f o r e s t R eg i o n o f B C
Bri+sh
Columbia
17
18
14
n
io
16
14
15
12
13
11
10
INLAND RAINFOREST REGION
Existing parks
2
Proposed new parks
& conservancies
Roads & Highways
What is needed is another simultaneous protection especially for
low- and mid-elevation old-growth
forests throughout the Interior Wetbelt. A big planning
process is not needed. BC government planners, the environmental community and scientists such as Dr.
Lance Craighead have worked hard for many years to
delineate and map the top priority areas for protection,
both from the standpoint of wildlife and old-growth In-
1
8
5
4
3
9
1. Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park
2. Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park
3. Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park
4. Poplar-Cascade Addition - Goat Range
5. Lardeau River Riparian Parkway
6. Goat Range-Purcell Connector
7. Kane Creek Addition-Goat Range Park
8. Perry Ridge Ecological Reserve
9. Valhalla-Goat Range Connector
10. Mt. Revelstoke-Glacier Addition
11. Mt. Revelstoke-Glacier Addition
12. Hamber Wilderness Park Proposal
13. Quesnel Lake Wilderness Proposal
14. Quesnel Lake Wilderness Proposal
15. Blue Lead Addition - Cariboo Mtns.
16. Cariboo River Addition - Bowron Lakes
17 Walker Rainforest Wilderness Proposal
18. Goat River Wilderness Proposal
19. Bear Paw Ridge Grizzly Bear Sanctuary
7
6
P r e pa r e d f o r t h e
V a l h a l l a W i l de r n e s s S o c i e ty b y :
Supported by:
Perry Ridge Water Users
Purcell Wilderness Alliance
Save the Cedar League
Western Canada Wilderness Commit-
land Rainforest.
One conservation approach advocated by some is to
put the focus on saving only the very wettest and very
oldest rainforest. The Valhalla Wilderness Society does
not take this approach because it concedes ongoing fragmentation by clearcuts and roads around these very
areas, which would make
them islands of extinction.
This would likely happen
quickly once the logging
companies finish the massive salvage logging of dry
pine forests recently killed
B ad e n C r o s s
A p p l i e d C o n s e r v a t i o n G IS
by the mountain pine beetle. Such an approach would
also sacrifice the old for the very old, the moist CedarHemlock for the wet, and the wet for the very wet.
Maintaining the largest possible protected ecosystems in
order to stop the spread of fragmentation is one of the key
values in the Valhalla Wilderness Society’s maps and conservation approach. This map does not appear to do that
because there are huge areas with no new proposals. But
some of these areas are rock and ice in BC’s rugged mountains, some are already devastated by logging and roads,
and some will receive upgraded protection for mountain
caribou. In addition, the Valhalla Wilderness Society may
identify more key areas as our work progresses.
Can you see the person in this photograph? This photo demonstrates why the Val-
Courtesy of Gary Diers
The long-term result has been
the threatened extinction of the
mountain caribou, the loss of unknown numbers of lichen species,
and the threat of losing a whole constellation of species associated with
low- and mid-elevation old-growth
forest. But, as insufficient as those
1990s protected areas were, today
they form the backbone of a vision of
a future park system that is more ecologically complete.
g
Re
st
re
fo
in
Ra
19
The government designated forest conservation zones (i.e., caribou
management zones, old-growth management areas, etc.) where small
patches of forest would be retained in
areas that were to be logged. These
were supposed to support those
species that needed old-growth forest,
but in reality, far too little forest was
retained for that purpose. As well,
these areas allowed logging roads to
be pushed immediately into the backs
of many previously intact valleys,
connecting clearcuts like a chain of
beads. This is why some of the new
areas proposed for preservation today
contain some clearcuts and roads.
These fragmented valleys
turned out to be deadly to mountain
caribou, which were concentrated on
the isolated forest patches where
wolves and cougars could easily find
them and chase them down, using
logging roads to speed their search.
The rate of logging was not significantly reduced by any of this protection, so the fragmentation happened
rapidly. Now the logging roads provide the infrastructure for the final
liquidation of the protected patches,
which in some areas could happen
with the stroke of a pen if the government chose to do so.
Alberta
( Pa r k s , C o n s e r v a n ci e s , E co l o g i ca l Re s er v es an d o t h e r
d e s i g n a t i o n s o f f e r i n g f ul l, p e r m an en t p r o t e ct i o n )
nd
la
In
In the mid-’90s the BC government
set up a public planning process with
a mandate to double the park system.
Within a few years there were several
hundred new parks. But the new
parks were heavily weighted towards
high elevation landscapes that were
unprofitable to log, leaving most of
the rich low- and mid-elevation forest to be clearcut. These were the
forests with by far the highest biodiversity.
halla Wilderness Society believes that all old-growth Interior Cedar-Hemlock forest (ICH)
should be preserved. This ICH is likely classed as “moist” rather than “wet.” It is in Lake
Creek Valley of the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal. The tree on the front cover of
this publication is also “moist” ICH. Some scientists consider only the “wet” and “very wet”
categories to be true rainforest. But the moist and even the dry ICH were once rainforest during a wetter period in the Earth’s history. Five hundred year old trees are not uncommon in
the moist ICH. In some cases they are well supplied with ground water that has protected
them from fires for hundreds of years. They are refugia for many species. Some rainforest
lichen species are found as far south as southern Idaho. The dry and moist ICH are especially
endangered because of global warming. But the great value of the wet and very wet ICH is
that they stand by far the better chance of surviving fires and drought caused by global warming. It is all humid, high-biomass forest radically different from the dry pine forests that surround them, and of immense value in the fight against global warming.
Gene Parker
Alan Watson
SELKIRK MOUNTAIN CARIBOU PARK PROPOSAL
INCOMAPPLEUX
The only remaining habitat of the Central Selkirk mountain caribou
Grizzly bears fishing for Kokanee salmon
Antique inland temperate rainforest
Bull trout-Gerrard trout-Kokanee fisheries
Stunningly rugged, beautiful mountains
Toby Spribille
Common rainforest lichen Lobaria pulmonaria
Electron microscope reveals the fruiting bodies of one of the
crust lichens discovered by VWS research project.
Gary Diers
Using the forest cover maps by Applied Conservation GIS, and the Conservation Area Design by Dr.
Lance Craighead, the Valhalla Wilderness Society has
defined the boundaries that would give the caribou herd
and a multitude of other old-growth species the best
chance of survival. The result is 360,000 hectares proposed for preservation that would link the three large
existing parks (Glacier National Park, Goat Range
Provincial Park and Purcell Wilderness Conservancy).
This would provide a protected area complex for the
southern Inland Rainforest Region similar to that in the
Cariboo Mountains. The proposal includes the largest
remaining areas of intact old-growth forest ranging
from valley-bottom cedar-hemlock to the most valuable subalpine forest. It includes the Upper Incomappleux Valley, which is the southernmost
example of wet rainforest, plus many identified and
potential smaller pockets of inland rainforest. It also
contains all the intact low- and mid-elevation
forested habitat identified in the Mountain Caribou
Recovery Process.
Craig Pettitt
The Central Selkirk herd is more endangered than
herds to the north, but it has more habitat left to protect
than smaller herds to the south that range across the
BC-US border. The BC government’s Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan has recognized the importance of
this herd by proposing 20,000 hectares of new forest
protection within the Timber Harvesting Land Base in
theCentral Selkirk planning unit. The Valhalla Wilderness Society provided extensive input into the distribution of the new reserves in the hope that the areas
with the highest value for caribou would be chosen.
The Ministry of Environment made similar recom-
mendations; if they are followed, the future no-logging
zones will protect some significant areas for caribou.
However, the 20,000 hectares are not remotely enough
to save this herd. Protecting that alone would sacrifice
most of the herd’s remaining intact, low-elevation habitat, as well as most of the big trees of the old-growth
Cedar-Hemlock, including one of the most extraordinary tracts of primeval inland rainforest in the province
(the Upper Incomappleux Valley.) (For more information on the status of the Mountain Caribou Recovery
Plan, see page six.)
Since 2002 the Valhalla Wilderness Society has
sponsored research on inland rainforest lichens by
lichenologist Toby Spribille, formerly based at the
University of Göttingen, Germany. Spribille has
worked closely with BC lichenologists Curtis Björk
and Trevor Goward, and they have collaborated with
international experts. They have found that the inland temperate rainforests contain one of the richest
tree lichen floras in the world — richer than BC’s
coastal temperate rainforest.
Previously, inland temperate rainforests had
been deemed low in biodiversity. But Spribille,
Björk and Goward found more species of lichens
in the Incomappleux Valley than tree, shrub, herb,
grass and moss species combined. Spribille has
now listed a spectacular 283 lichen species from
the Incomappleux, and that’s with only cursory examination. Most of them (about 74%) were found
in old-growth forest. The Incomappleux species
include three not previously known in BC or
Canada, three not previously known in North
America, and nine that were not previously known
to science at all (report now in press). These discoveries have totally remade the concept of biodiversity in these inland temperate rainforests.
The temperate rainforests are poor in nitrogen. Some lichens, like the leafy Lung Lichens,
are natural fertilizers, aiding the growth of trees
EAST CREEK
East Creek and Geigrich Creek are two totally intact
wilderness valleys with ancient forest in this proposal. In
the background are the rugged spires of Bugaboo Provincial Park, which currently protects mostly rock and ice.
by capturing nitrogen from the air. Lichens can provide
up to half the nitrogen requirement of a forest. Many
species of wildlife depend upon lichens for food and
nesting materials. For example, over the winter the
mountain caribou depend totally upon hair lichens. The
fragmentation of these forests represents a direct and
immediate threat to many species that depend on small
micro-habitats, and for which a clearcut represents an
immense migration barrier. Fragmentation creates
canopy gaps allowing valley winds to penetrate into the
heart of forest canopies that have been sheltered and
humid for thousands of years, drying out the habitats
of species. The biodiversity of the tropical rainforest
has long been a serious world concern, but BC also has
cradles of biodiversity in these old forests that need
world attention to protect them.
Craig Pettitt
The ecological wealth of the Central Selkirk Mountains
is seriously in danger due to logging that has decimated
whole valleys of huge old-growth trees and pushed the
mountain caribou to the brink of extinction. There are
already large parks in the area. Unfortunately, they are
predominantly rock, ice, alpine meadows and sparse
subalpine forest. Only a limited amount of the lower,
heavily forested slopes and valley bottoms were included within the boundaries of these parks. As a result the caribou herd is down to 90 animals because of
logging, but they still have significant habitat that
would be loss if logging the old-growth continues.
THE SELKIRK MOUNTAIN CARIBOU PARK PROPOSAL IS CRITICAL FOR GRIZZLY BEARS
province. The reason for this is the existence of the
major wilderness parks, especially the Goat Range
Provincial Park and the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, as well as Glacier National Park. However, some
of the bears leave these parks for the lower elevations
in spring, where they are searching for new plant
growth, and in autumn when they come to the rivers to
fish for land-locked Kokanee salmon which provide a
grizzly-bear feast every year. But there is little protected habitat for the bears along the rivers. The proposed Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park will protect
critical forest patches along the Lardeau River.
Now the threats are moving in from all directions. The chief ones are logging roads, independent
hydro-electric projects, swarms of off-road vehicles,
including hunting in the alpine from ATVs, backcountry lodges, and mega tourism development such
as the Jumbo Glacier Resort. The same old-growth
forest that forms the critical habitat of the mountain
caribou is also needed to provide critical seclusion
areas for grizzly bears.
Craig Pettitt
The Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal
contains critical expanses of old-growth forest which,
if they were lost, would be a great blow to prospects
of grizzly bear survival, but if added to the existing
wilderness parks they could provide much larger and
more complete sanctuaries.
This grizzly bear is having a meal of land-locked Kokanee
salmon outside of Goat Range Provincial Park.
Very High Values for Wilderness Recreation
Craig Pettitt
Human contact is the largest cause of grizzly bear
mortality. Historically, the disappearance of grizzly
bear populations in North America started in the
southern part of their range and has travelled north
over a couple of centuries as human population and
development spread. In the US there are only four
small, isolated populations of grizzly bears left.
The research of Dr. Michael Proctor has documented the drain on grizzly bear populations in
southern BC. There is only one isolated population
of 70-100 grizzly bears in BC’s South Selkirk Mountains, south of the park proposal. Proctor says that
this population should be considered endangered; but
with the failure of the Mountain Caribou Recovery
Process to provide significant new habitat protection
in the South Selkirks, these bears will not be helped.
He has used scientific methods to determine how
many grizzly bears the habitat will support. Grizzly
bear populations in the southern part of BC’s Selkirk
Mountains were only 44% of what they should be;
whereas they were at 96% in the northern part encompassed by the proposed Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park. In the southern Purcells they were 76% of
what they should be, whereas in the northern Purcells
they were at 96%.
Thus the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal
and adjacent mountains may have the most southerly,
reasonably healthy populations of grizzly bears in the
The Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal lies in an area of very steep, high mountains. In some areas it is penetrated by logging roads, but extensive areas too steep to
log and high-elevation side valleys have no roads or trails at all. It should largely be
kept this way because the purpose of the new park would be to protect animals that
need insulation from human contact. However, there are innumerable opportunities
for cross-country wilderness trekking and mountain climbing that are used every year
by hardy backcountry travellers. There are large areas of gorgeous alpine and subalpine terrain that are accessible by old roads and open enough for easy hiking. The
park proposal is very large because some key tracts of forest are interspersed with
clearcutting over a large area, or else with extensive areas of rock and ice. This means
there are opportunities to build a limited number of good hiking trails into spectacularly scenic mountains, while also leaving many areas without trails for complete
wilderness protection.
Why We Can’t Afford to Log Our Old-Growth Forest
One of the world’s top climate scientists, Dr. James
Hansen, who is Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, says the planet is in a crisis due
to global warming. The cause is burning fossil fuels,
and the worst culprit is coal. It is absolutely urgent that
countries around the world stop burning coal. There
should be zero new coal-fired plants built and drastic
cutbacks of existing coal emissions. Dr. Hansen supports the gas tax. It is also urgent that we figure out how
to absorb and store the excess carbon already in the atmosphere. The technology to do this on a large scale is
not yet available.
But what does global warming have to do with
forests? On land, forests store more carbon than any
other type of ecosystem. But when forests are logged,
only 10-25% of that carbon remains stored in wood
products. The rest goes back into the atmosphere. The
US Forest Service Climate Change Resource Center
says that the elimination of logging on US public lands:
“could result in an annual increase of as much
Green Carbon
as 43 percent over current sequestration levels on public timberlands and would offset up
to 1.5 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions. In contrast, moving to a
more intense harvesting policy similar to that
which prevailed in the 1980s may result in
annual reductions of 50 to 80 percent in anticipated carbon sequestration.”
In BC, global warming combined with poor, exploitative forestry practices, has caused outbreaks of
mountain pine beetle that have killed nine million
hectares of pine forest in the BC Interior. According to
the Canadian Forest Service, the trees killed by mountain pine beetle in BC will pour one billion tonnes of
carbon dioxide into the air as they rot or are burned.
And we are also losing what the trees would have absorbed if they had remained alive. Studies show that
old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest store higher
amounts of carbon per acre than any other type of vegetation anywhere in the world. BC’s Inland Rainforest
carbon storage is similar. As BC suffers massive forest
lost due to beetles, why are we logging the healthy
forests we have left? Economic concerns? Some experts now recognize that maintaining BC forests for
carbon sequestration and storage is worth over $1,000
per hectare, making the trees now more valuable standing than cut down.
Some scientists, industry and governments have
long held that old forests stop absorbing carbon and that
it is best to cut them down and start all over with young
trees, which supposedly would absorb carbon faster. But
that has now been thoroughly refuted by newer studies:
• It may take many years before young forests start
absorbing more carbon from the air than they
emit. It will take hundreds of years before they
store as much as old forests already contain.
• Disturbance of old-growth temperate forests may
reduce carbon storage for at least 250 years and
with continued harvesting, carbon storage may be
reduced indefinitely.
“The remaining intact natural forests constitute a significant standing stock of
carbon that should be protected from carbon-emitting land-use activities....
“We can no longer afford to ignore emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation from every biome (that is, we need to consider boreal, tropical and temperate forests) and in every nation (whether economically
developing or developed)….
“From a climate change perspective, forest degradation needs to be defined to include the impact of all human land-use activity that reduces the current carbon
stock in a natural forest compared with its natural carbon carrying capacity. The
impact of commercial logging on natural forests must therefore also be considered
when accounting for forest degradation. As discussed earlier, commercially logged
forests have substantially lower carbon stocks and reduced biodiversity than intact
natural forests, and studies have shown carbon stocks to be 40 to 60 per cent lower
depending on the intensity of logging....
Anne Sherrod
“In Brazilian Amazon, the area of natural forest that is logged commercially resulting in degraded carbon stocks is equivalent to that subject to deforestation and
represents approximately 0.1 Gt of green carbon emissions to the atmosphere....”
Professor Brendan Mackey, et al.
Green Carbon, Australian National University Press, 2008.
Marked for logging: Block 486 in the Robson Valley. The trees were
rescued by local residents building an old-growth interpretive trail.
ROBSON VALLEY: THE WALKER WILDERNESS & BEAR PAW RIDGE
Good news in the Robson Valley: The BC government’s
own Integrated Land Management Bureau has recommended that 4,770 hectares of the oldest and wettest rainforest be protected. In addition, the BC government’s
Forest Practices Board (FPB) has said that these very old
forests can be protected under the Forest Act if the government recognizes that they are vulnerable and at risk. The
FPB report recommended a ten-year moratorium on logging ancient rainforest to study them for protection.
Craig Pettitt
Bad news: The BC government turned down both of these
recommendations. However, it cannot make them go away
and the public should continue to support them. Another
very high priority is to stop the ongoing and severe fragmentation of intact ecosystems on which the area’s wildlife
depends. That requires full protection of the Walker Rainforest Wilderness and Bear Paw Ridge.
The following is by Dr. Rick Zammuto
Save-the-Cedar League
The Robson Valley is in the northernmost part of the
Inland Rainforest Region. The valley contains the headwaters of BC’s great Fraser River. It is a very long and
broad valley enclosed by foothills that climb gradually
to the glaciated peaks of the Rocky Mountains on the
east and the Cariboo Mountains on the west. This
makes it some of the best habitat for wildlife in the Interior of BC.
The internationally significant Walker Rainforest
Wilderness (WRW, 2006 sq. km, 774 sq. mi) is the
largest wilderness remaining anywhere in the world
outside of Parks that includes ancient Inland Rainforest,
mountain caribou, salmon-grizzly, and ocean going
Chinook salmon. From 2003-2008 about a third of this
magnificent world-class wilderness area was protected
with the help of the community of Dome Creek, sci-
The Walker Rainforest Wilderness viewed from the Robson Valley. The relatively gentle slopes and
rounded ridgetops make this some of the best wildlife habitat, including mountain caribou habitat,
in the Interior of BC. The mid-elevation band contains rich inland temperate rainforest.
entists, VWS, Save-The-Cedar League, and others.
However, much more work needs to be done since the
area is still threatened by industry. Some 140,000
hectares of old- growth forest provide key habitat for
more than 350 vertebrate species.
The WRW contains the only watershed in Canada
that is home to three federally recognized sub-populations of woodland caribou which are at risk of extinction
(the Southern Mountain, Northern, and Alberta Mountain ecotypes). Grizzly and black bear, mountain caribou,
wolverine, lynx, wolf, moose, deer, beaver, mink, and
many bird species are common. Conservation Area Design data from conservation biologists indicate that 75%
of the WRW is used daily by all six of the key focal
species of mammals that signify wilderness in BC (grizzly bear, mountain caribou, wolverine, lynx, cougar,
and wolf). Some of the largest and darkest coloured
grizzly bears ever recorded in BC are often seen.
The WRW also contains the largest waterfalls and
salmon spawning raceway of the region at Morkill
Falls, where grizzlies are viewed feeding on salmon in
the kilometer long, boulder-strewn raceway beneath
three impressive waterfall cascades. In fact, the WRW
is the largest remaining undeveloped watershed-cluster in the entire Rocky Mountains where grizzly bears
can still be watched fishing for wild, ocean-going
salmon. The WRW contains 40 key spawning grounds
for Chinook salmon, bull trout, and rainbow trout.
Some 44% of the WRW watersheds support Chinook
salmon that are also an important food source for grizzly bears.
More grizzly bears have been observed on
Bearpaw Ridge than most places in BC. One can observe more than 25 different bears over a weekend. If
Bearpaw Ridge is protected it would be one of the premiere grizzly bear sanctuaries in Canada.
Block 486: 57 hectares, proposed for protection for 34 years
The valley bottom and much of the low- and mid-elevation slopes of the Robson Valley have been massively clearcut. Nevertheless, the Robson Valley still
has the most ancient inland rainforest left in the Inland
Rainforest Region, including more of the rare “very
wet” type. The failure of efforts to protect this rarest
and wettest of all Inland Rainforest reveals the extreme
reluctance of the BC government to protect the big
trees that industry wants to log, most of which are exported raw to the United States.
The Prince George Timber Supply Area contains
130,000 hectares that grow this very wet, very old Inland Rainforest. However, so much of it has been
logged that only about six sites of approximately 6,000
hectares of the very wet, very old, with monumental
cedars, remain. In this forest district, only 360 hectares
of these sites are protected in one small park. Recently
the BC government’s own Integrated Land Management Bureau recommended that 4,700 hectares of the
oldest and wettest rainforest be protected.
It is a shocking statement on the BC government’s
attitude towards priceless legacies of biodiversity, that
it has promised to protect only 57 hectares of ancient
rainforest — the now-famous “Block 486” — and it
hasn’t even done that yet. Further, the protection may
come in the form of a Recreation Area, which is very
Anne Sherrod
Anne Sherrod
A priceless biological heritage cut down for fence posts
Near Block 486: logged for fence posts and rails; note the waste pile
weak protection. The huge cedar trees on Block 486
still bear the red flagging tape and crayon marks showing that they were about to be cut down when local residents intervened by building a trail through the area.
Now called the Ancient Forest Trail, it attracts thousands of hikers from all over the world. Visitors to this
trail are now bringing tourism dollars into the valley,
whereas the company that was logging the ancient rainforests went bankrupt.
The Robson Valley does have the best record in
the BC Interior for setting aside special management
zones for mountain caribou; but most of what has been
protected in these zones is sparse subalpine forest. It is
the lush, mid-elevation inland temperate rainforests,
and interconnected valley-bottom spruce forests that
have by far the highest biodiversity. They are refugia
for hundreds of species of rare and newly identified
lichens, but many of these species will disappear forever from the region if the remaining ancient rainforest
is logged.
The BC government has also set aside thousands of
hectares of forest in Old-growth Management Areas
(OGMAs) in this Forest District. However, most of these
are high elevation forest. They are also aspatial
OGMAs — areas where the logging companies must
leave a certain percentage of old-growth when they log.
Aspatial OGMAs allow ongoing severe fragmentation
in which logging companies can cut down the best trees.
Only spatial OGMAs offer strong protection similar to
parks. Only about 20% of OGMAs in the Robson Valley are spatial, and even then they are mostly high elevation. In 2002 the Save-the-Cedar League and other
local activists persuaded the government to include
some rainforest in new Old-growth Management Areas;
but to date only 1,600 hectares of the very wet, very old
rainforest over 250 years old have OGMA protection.
This creates the same conundrum that will be
found throughout the Inland Rainforest Region. Amidst
an abundance of seeming “protection,” the very heart
of the area’s ecosystems and the wellsprings of its biodiversity — its low- and mid-elevation cedar-hemlock
and spruce forests — is being consumed, creating numerous endangered species and wiping out small ones
such as lichens before we know anything about them.
Many of the ancient cedar trees have hollow interiors. This is a natural state in which they can live many
hundreds of years. But when logged, the cedars of the
Robson Valley are only good for fence rails and posts,
and garden mulch. Presently beetle-killed pine trees
have priority for logging, but by law the company could
log or build roads through these precious ancient forests
at any time.
Mountain Caribou Still Not Protected
It has been one year since a Recovery Plan was announced, but it has never been enacted
Signed by 11 environmental groups
In October 2007 the BC government dazzled the world
by announcing the protection of 2.2 million hectares of
habitat for the critically endangered mountain caribou.
With this huge amount of “protection,” why do many
BC environmentalists oppose this plan?
jority of it all was at very high elevations. Lower elevation forest reserves were only partly protected, allowing them to be heavily fragmented with clearcuts
and roads that are deadly to mountain caribou
Of that 380,000 hectares, only 77,000 hectares (20%
of the new protection) can come from the Timber Harvesting Land Base (THLB). The THLB contains the
low- and mid-elevation forest on gentle to moderate
slopes that are critical for mountain caribou survival in
early winter and spring. Even the protection of 77,000
ha of Timber Harvesting Land Base cannot reduce the
allowable annual cut for five years.
Craig Pettitt
Of the 2.2 million hectares promised, only 380,000
hectares would be new habitat protection. The rest had
already been protected years ago. Some of it was existing parks; some was small forest patches outside of
parks that had been reserved for caribou. The vast ma-
In early winter, the mountain caribou come down to low elevations to take shelter in old-growth forest, often CedarHemlock forest. These mountain caribou are swimming in Quesnel Lake in 2002, headed for shore where there is lush
inland temperate rainforest. There are only about 1,800 mountain caribou left, and they are found mostly where inland rainforest at low elevations is topped by subalpine meadows. Their yearly migration takes them from the valley
bottoms to the mountain tops twice a year.
This is 2008 logging in the Downie Creek Valley near Revelstoke. It is mountain caribou habitat that is left out of the plans for new protection. The area is being logged by
the Revelstoke Community Forest.
These constraints all mean
that most of the new habitat
protection (like the old protection) is being concentrated at high elevations and
on steep slopes — areas that
are not included in the Timber Harvesting Land Base
because they are too high or
steep to log. Loading protection in these areas is like
firemen protecting houses
that aren’t on fire while
many that are receive little
defense. This obviously facilitates the wholesale destruction of the mountain
caribou’s critical spring and
early winter habitat.
Government scientists have done the best they can do
with this new protection allowance. The plans they
have drawn up would lump 25,000 hectares of new
protection in the West Cariboo Mountains, and 20,000
hectares in the Central Selkirks. These two allotments
fall in areas proposed by the Valhalla Wilderness Society for new parks or conservancies. There is a concurrence of scientific opinion that these are high
priority areas. VWS has scrutinized the scientists’ proposals, and they would be a welcomed improvement
in these two, relatively small, areas. We wish we
could tell the public that this will save the mountain
caribou, but it will not.
It is gravely disturbing that there are many planned cutblocks within the areas proposed for no-logging zones
that were approved before the new plan was announced. The government tight-fistedly insists upon allowing these to be logged. So even what the plan offers
that is good may, in the end, be tragically fragmented
by further logging.
Lastly, we come to what is perhaps the worst part of
the plan. The government promised that the plan would
be in place by the end of March 2008; but as this
newsletter goes to press on December 1, a plan has not
been approved and the 77,000 hectares has so far failed
to materialize. The planning teams did their work relatively quickly, and they are not responsible for this
delay. Their plans mean nothing until the government
signs an Order to put them into action.
Rosie’s agony exposed the suffering that is befalling wolves
and other wildlife in the name of mountain caribou protection
The terms of the proposed new Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan instruct government biologists to
produce two-and-a-half times more mountain caribou
in the South Selkirks, and seven times more in the
South Purcells, within 20 years. However, the South
Selkirks have been assigned only 3,803 hectares of
new protection within the Timber Harvesting Land
Base, and the South Purcells only 5,984 hectares. Reports by the government biologists state that these
amounts are not significantly more than what these
areas already have. They say their planning units do
have more critical habitat to protect, but it is not covered by the small amount of new protection offered.
In other words, the habitat of the caribou that are closest to dying out will continue to be logged.
In the Revelstoke Planning Unit, government biologists have admitted openly that meeting the government’s goal of increasing their planning unit’s
caribou population to 363 animals will be largely dependent upon increased killing of predators and competitive prey species such as moose, elk and deer. They
make clear that less habitat protection means more
killing. The biologists have also said at various times
that in order for predator control to work, it would have
to be continued for 60-100 years to have any significant effect. Besides wolves and cougars, the government is also proposing increased killing of two
species-at-risk — grizzly bears and wolverines — as
Courtesy of Fur-Bearer Defenders
In the South Selkirk Mountains and the South Purcell
Mountains, there are small remnant groups of mountain caribou that cross the BC-US border. For many
years there has been a cross-boundary effort to save
them. But all the while, BC has continued to allow
their critical habitat to be logged, in spite of 20 years
of scientific reports showing that logging was the chief
cause of the decline in mountain caribou populations.
Steve Austin
“The controlling elements of the mountain caribou plan
were negotiated between parties that had signed confidentiality agreements. The public and the broader environmental movement knew nothing about the plan until it
was announced to the press. … Scientists concur that the
chief reason for the decline of the mountain caribou is
clearcuts and roads in their habitat. Most logging takes
place on the Timber Harvesting Land Base (THLB). Thus
it is evident that this part of the forest is critical to the survival of the mountain caribou. … Yet under the proposed
plan, only 1% of the THLB may be protected. Such a plan
can only be called a mountain caribou extinction plan. It
is clearly apparent that this plan was designed to avoid
any significant reductions in the allowable annual cut or
any reduction of mill capacity — the two factors that are
most destructive to the mountain caribou.”
Valhalla Wilderness Society
Letter to Honourable Pat Bell
Minister of Agriculture and Lands
April 30, 2008
Rosie
while she was screaming in pain, she
stepped into another one, which crushed a
second leg. The owner had to drive 23
MOUNTAIN CARIBOU RECOVERY PLAN FOR HERDS
kilometres to find a veterinarian, with the
WITHOUT ENOUGH HABITAT PROTECTION
dog crying in agony the whole way. Rosie
This is the “humane” leghold trap that crushed Rosie’s legs
had to be euthanized. The traps had been
authorized by the BC Ministry of Enviwell as black bears.
ronment as part of the mountain caribou recovery proWhile habitat protection has been delayed, preda- gram. They were set in a well-used recreation area, with
tor control began over a year ago without a plan in no signs to warn people. The government later explace. In several planning units this is happening under plained that if people know about the traps, they will
the disguise of relaxed hunting regulations that started spring them or remove them.
in 2007. The Thompson Region introduced extended
hunting seasons for cougar, wolf and black bear, as well
as removal of the bag limit on wolves. The Cariboo and
Omineca regions both removed bag limits on wolves.
But in May 2008 the dirtiest secret of BC caribou
recovery was laid bare when Rosie, the beloved dog of
Steve Austin and his wife, stepped into a trap near Creston. The powerful steel jaws crushed her leg, and
Government scientists have defended predator
control in general. They say that there is not enough forest left in the most heavily clearcut planning units to
save mountain caribou, even if the government were
willing to protect it all. But the whole dilemma is created by single-species conservation. We should not be
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
QUESNEL LAKE WILDERNESS
In 1994 the Penfold Valley at the head of the North Arm
of Quesnel Lake was part of the most resplendent, intact and wild tract of Inland Temperate Rainforest in
existence, connected as it was to Wells Gray Provincial
Park by the Niagara River; and it was lined up for inclusion within the new Cariboo Mountains Provincial
Park. The betrayal of the Penfold and its sacrifice to the
logging industry in the public planning process of that
year was a tragic loss. But the arrival of a mountain
pine beetle attack in pine forests sent the logging companies racing outside the Penfold to log the dying and
dead pine forest. As a result, despite the incursion of a
several logging roads and clearcuts, the head of the
North Arm of Quesnel Lake and the Penfold remain
one of the largest bodies of unprotected old-growth Inland Rainforest left in the province.
Craig Pettitt
In October 2007, with the generous help of the Vancouver Foundation, the Valhalla Wilderness Society organized a seven-day field trip into the head of the North
Arm of Quesnel Lake. Present on the trip were VWS director and forest technician Craig Pettitt,
lichenologist Toby Spribille, Teena Sellars
from the Xats’ull First Nation (Soda Creek
Band), Cody William from the Natural Resource Team of the T’exelc First Nation
(Williams Lake Band). These are two of the
four bands that make up the Secwepemc Nation. Two members of the Quesnel River Watershed Alliance were also present.
The First Nations representatives found
abundant signs of their cultural use and occupa-
Craig Pettitt
Courtesy Cody William
Joint Valhalla Wilderness Society-First Nations field trip
finds abundant signs of First Nations occupancy, rare species,
old-growth inland rainforest, extraordinary biodiversity
Fabled Penfold rainforest wilderness still largely intact
Government mountain caribou Habitat Team recommends
25,000-hectare no logging zone
Left: Teena Sellars of the Soda Creek Band amidst ancient legacies of nature and aboriginal culture.
Above: Williams Lake Band member Cody William in a marsh where the Penfold Valley flows into Quesnel Lake.
tion. Wilderness values were very high. The travellers were
thilled to hear wolves howling at night and to find grizzly
bear tracks along the lake. Local guides told of mountain
caribou paths. For years there have been claims that mountain caribou do not use the low elevation cedar-hemlock
forests in the West Cariboo Mountains. But historical and
scientific records do not support this, as shown by the photo
at top right, given to VWS by a local resident.
Lichenologist Toby Spribille has surveyed lichens
in a wide range of locations throughout the Inland Rainforest Region, and he found that the forest along the lake
had the greatest abundance and diversity of lichen species
anywhere in the Region. Spribille believes the West Cariboo Mountains are likely the core of the Inland Temperate Rainforest and the richest hotspot for coastal lichens
occuring inland. He discovered one lichen species new to
science, along with numerous other rare species. There
were more sites with the very rare Nephroma occultum
(Cryptic paw lichen), which is listed as a species-ofconcern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered
Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), than have ever been
Nephroma occultum - a Species of Special Concern to COSEWIC
Rosie’s Agony (continued from previous page)
trying to protect species at risk, we should be trying to
protect ecosystems at risk. If that had been the case, the
mountain caribou would never have lost so much habitat. Now, even though it may not help the mountain caribou, it is critical to protect all of the old-growth forest
that is left in these tragically fragmented areas; if this is
not done, many more old-growth species could be lost.
Protecting all remaining old-growth forest would give
the mountain caribou their best chance of survival.
Many scientists are furious about the use of predator control to artificially pump up caribou numbers.
Top carnivores such as wolves and cougars are critical
to the health of ecosystems. They aid the survival of
many plant communities and small animal species by
keeping prey species as well as mid-sized predators in
check. Areas where the top predators have been slaughtered have experienced heavy overgrazing of wildlife
habitat and the subsequent death by starvation of thousands of deer and elk.
In 2007 50 independent scientists signed a petition saying that predator control was being over-emphasized in the planning. The petition calls, not only
for protection of adequate habitat, but also for decommissioning hundreds of kilometres of logging roads
that create travel lanes for predators to access caribou.
Vancouver-based Fur-Bearer Defenders first
alerted the public to the story of Rosie. They were told
by the Ministry of Environment that the traps that killed
Rosie are “humane” for their intended victims (wolves)
since they have larger legs. But all kinds of wildlife
could step into these traps, and Rosie has shown us what
they endure. There is no one to take them to the veterinarian for a quick death. What’s more, let a child or even
an adult step into one of these traps, and we shall
quickly find out how humane they are for animals with
big legs. The traps were so strong that Rosie’s owner
could not open the jaws, and had to carry his pet to the
vet with the traps still on her legs. In the wild, the animals are often left to suffer in agony for days or weeks
found anywhere else.
Members of the exploration team were surprised
to discover that sockeye salmon were spawning directly
in the shallow bays of the lake as well as in the river.
This attracted bald eagles and grizzly bears, which were
taking the remains of dead salmon into the forest to
feed on them, dropping pieces along the way that fertilized the soil. They were also scattering high-nitrogen
droppings throughout the forest, with the eagles leaving
them in the branches of trees. Spribille believes that
this contributed to the wild abundance and diversity of
lichen growth. There were species present that belonged only to nitrogen-rich environments and would
never have been found in the area without the salmon,
eagles and grizzly bears. In addition, limestone rock
formations supported lichen species associated only
with limestone. All these elements combined make the
head of Quesnel Lake and the Penfold Valley a very
rare and unique ecosystem entwined with the history
and culture of aboriginal people.
Spribille recommends that logging
should be stopped in the Penfold and the head
of Quesnel Lake because of numerous rare
lichen species. The BC government’s Mountain Caribou Habitat Team has recommended
25,000 hectares for no-logging zones. Unfortunately, the plan leaves about 12,000 hectares
unprotected, and government scientists say
this could have consequences to the mountain
caribou herd’s survival. Perhaps the greatest
hope for this area lies with First Nations.
before they die; many gnaw their legs off to escape.
Is it right to knowingly, deliberately destroy the
critical habitat of a species, even after it is known that
the logging is driving the animals towards extinction,
then blame predators for killing the last few members
of the herd, and set off on a new kind of killing spree
against the predators that damages the ecosystem even
more? This leads nowhere but to a continuous downward spiral into more and more wildlife deaths, more
cruelty and more ecological damage. Humankind has
tended to lock itself away from feeling connections
with fellow creatures to pursue its own selfish ends.
But science has never been closer to showing us that
the species we kill may ultimately be our own.
WRITE: Tom Ethier, Director/Fish and Wildlife
Branch/Environmental Stewardship Division\Ministry of Environment/PO Box 9391/Victoria, BC
V8W 9MB.
VISIT: www.BanLegholdTraps.com
PLEASE JOIN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE TAKING ACTION
Stefan Röhl
GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENTAL
DECLARATION for BC’S
INLAND RAINFOREST REGION
The following organizations have signed an accord calling for “Full protection of all oldgrowth forest 140 years or over, including lowand mid-elevation Interior Cedar-Hemlock.”
Applied Ecological Stewardship Council of BC
BC Pathways
Conservation Biology Center
Friends of the Grove
Friends of the Lardeau
Kids for Caribou
Granby Wilderness Society
Koordinationzentrum Natur und Umwelt
Perry Ridge Water Users
Pro Terra
Purcell Alliance for Wilderness
Raincoast Conservation Society
Save-The-Cedar League
Selkirk Conservation Alliance
Sinixt First Nation
Valhalla Wilderness Society
Wild Earth
Western Canada Wilderness Committee
World Temperate Rainforest Network
Stefan Röhl
For full text see www.vws.org
“Honorable Mr. Premier, the Inland Rainforest
and the Mountain Caribou represent a unique nature that only exists in British Columbia. It is your
responsibility to maintain this heritage of humankind for the next generations on this planet.”
Signed by 4,884 German citizens
*
“The government of British Columbia bears special
responsibility for the Inland Rainforests ...
How long will it take before the BC government takes biodiversity seriously? In
BC’s inland rainforest, new species are
being discovered at a faster rate than in
any other North American ecosystem.”
Robin Wood
Koordinationszentrum Natur und Umwelt
Naturschatz
Urgewald
Stefan Wenzel, (Chairman,
Green Party - Lower Saxony)
*
PETITION SIGNED BY 50
CANADIAN AND US SCIENTISTS
see full text at www.vws.org
Deryk Willans
“Only one course of action will avert the
loss of mountain caribou over most or all
of their current range ... As a first priority,
Colleen McCrory with her son in Valhalla Park
legislated full protection of all mountain
caribou
old-growth
forest 140 years or
CRITICAL SITUATION
older through new
There is no inheritance more important to pass on to one’s children
provincial and national
parks, fully protected
than a healthy planet. The condi+ons for quality life on the planet are
caribou
old-growth
humanity’s heirloom. The campaign to stop the logging of old-growth
management reserves,
Inland Rainforest is cri+cally important to the future of our children.
and wildlife sanctuarFunding for environmental organiza+ons is very threatened by the
ies.”
recent economic collapse. What ever you can give to further the
cause, whether large or small, is crucially important. Small dona+ons
become big when many people pitch in; and if you can give more,
please do.
T H I S P U B L I C AT I O N WA S M A D E P O S S I B L E BY T H E G E N E R O U S ,
P U B L I C 9S P I R I T E D D O N AT I O N S O F : G O L D M A N F O U N DAT I O N ,
M C LE AN ’S FO U NDATIO N, H A RR IM AN FO U NDAT IO N, PATAGO NI A ,
FA N W O O D A N D TH E W O R L D W I L D L I F E F U N D.
Valhalla Wilderness Society
Membership and Donations
All donations are tax creditable, Charitable Tax # 119260883 RR
K Please sign me up for membership ($10.00) ____________.
K I would like to make a donation of _____________________.
K I would like to become a Sustaining Donor at the rate of ______/month.
K Please make an automatic withdrawal from my credit card. The withdrawal
should occur on the K 1st day of each month or the K 15th day of each month,
beginning the month of ______________, 2009.
Name: ______________________________________________________________
Address:_____________________________________________________________
Telephone: ________________________ E-mail: __________________________
Fax: ________________________________
VISA #: __________________________ MC #: _____________________________
Exp. Date: ______________________
Signature: ___________________________________________________________
See the full petition at
www.vws.org
★
★
★
★
★
★
Berlin, January 31, 2008
German environmental group Robin Wood
delivers 4,884 le,ers to the Canadian Embassy
Thank you to the German people for their
ongoing concern and generous help.
www.robinwood.de/german/presse/080131en.htm
www.naturschatz.org/kanada/mountain-caribou.htm
Dear Premier Gordon Campbell,
“I am very concerned with recently announced BC government plans that are clearly inadequate to save the endangered mountain caribou. ... Please rewrite the plan to ensure
that it does not allow any further ancient temperate rainforest logging or other habitat diminishment in the entire
range of the mountain caribou's habitat...”
Over 1,800 letters sent through Ecological Internet
see www.inlandtemperaterainforest.org
*
“We are opposed to killing predators as a means of increasing the numbers of mountain caribou ... The undersigned
declare a state of emergency because mountain caribou populations are declining rapidly ... We have therefore joined
together to demand:
“An immediate moratorium on all logging (including that
under the guise of beetle management), and on issuance of
new recreation tenures within any caribou habitat until the
items in this submission have been considered in open public process and recovery plans based upon habitat protection and restoration are completed and implemented.”
Applied Ecological Stewardship Council of BC
BC Pathways
Conservation Biology Center
Friends of the Grove
Granby Wilderness Society
Kids for Caribou
Koordinationszentrum Natur und Umwelt
Perry Ridge Water Users
Purcell Alliance for Wilderness
Raincoast Conservation Society
Save-the-Cedar League
Selkirk Conservation Alliance
Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance
Valhalla Wilderness Society
Western Canada Wilderness Committee
Wild Earth
World Temperate Rainforest Network
IF YOU CAN DO ONLY ONE THING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT,
WRITE THE BC GOVERNMENT TODAY. SOME KEY POINTS:
No more endless talking and planning to protect some forest someday.
Action is needed immediately. STOP LOGGING OLD-GROWTH
FORESTS IN THESE CATEGORIES:
Old-growth Mountain Caribou habitat
All old-growth Cedar-Hemlock forests 140 years or older
Twenty environmental groups, 50 scientists and a number of environmental groups in Europe have called for an end to logging all oldgrowth 140 years or older in the Inland Rainforest Region. They have
asked for a moratorium on logging until this can be decided.
The Forest Practices Board has asked for a 10-year moratorium on logging old-growth inland temperate rainforest in the Robson Valley.
A moratorium throughout the Inland Rainforest Region is needed. It
would allow time to create a plan that will endangered ecosystems and
many species at risk, not just one.
Placing large amounts of forest reserves at high elevation while most of
the logging is occuring and low- and mid-elevations is unacceptable.
The lower forests have the highest biodiversity and carbon storage.
New protection should preserve the remaining large intact areas — the
Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park Proposal, the Quesnel Lake Wilderness and the Walker Rainforest Wilderness on the VWS map. The
Mountain Caribou Recovery Process has recommended new forest reserves in these areas, but more and better protection is needed.
Address for letters:
Premier Gordon Campbell
Room 156
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
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